Notes
Slide Show
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What will the World Look Like: Predicting the Future of Technology
Summary and Conclusions
  • L. D. Alford
  • Engineer, Test Pilot, Author
  • www.lionelalford.com
  • www.ldalford.com
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Future?
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Books
  • The Second Mission
  • Centurion
  • Aegypt


  • The End of Honor
  • The Fox’s Honor
  • A Season of Honor
  • $15 each, $40 for set
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Fiction
  • Historical Fiction looks to the past for understanding
  • Science Fiction looks to the future for understanding


  • Technology drives the future
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Technology
  • If we can predict the future of technology, we can predict the future of the world
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Course Outline
  • 1.  Introduction and approach
  • 2.  Transportation
  • 3.  Computers
  • 4.  Medicine
  • 5.  Energy
  • 6.  Exploration
  • 7.  Military
  • 8.  Conclusions
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Technological Predictions
  • 1.  Current technology review
  • 2.  Directions
  • 3.  10 years
  • 4.  100 years
  • 5.  1000 years
  • 6.  10,000 years
  • 7.  Summary
  • 8.  Conclusion
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Approach
  • So this is what we did
    • 1.  Looked at needs
    • 2.  Assumed everything was possible in time
    • 3.  Looked at the past to see the future
    • 4.  Looked for the simplest solution


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Conclusions Transportation
  • Saw individual craft still a focus of society
  • Transition of technology to individuals
  • More freedom not less
  • Markets continue to drive
  • Mass transportation changes to individual transportation
  • Conquer the universe
  • NASA won’t be driving
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Conclusions Computers
  • Computers will infiltrate everything
  • Robots will provide more and more services
  • Devices will become human integrated
  • Systems will become human
  • Computers will become biological
  • Computers are the unseen driver of all technology
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Conclusions Medicine
  • Internal
  • Personal
  • Automated
  • Robots
  • Computer controlled


  • All watchwords for medicine in the future
  • As long as there is a market
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Conclusions Energy
  • Heavy hydrocarbon
  • Nuclear
  • Individual
  • Cost driven


  • All watchwords for energy in the future
  • As long as there is a market
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Conclusions Exploration
  • Survival the reason for exploration
  • Fusion
  • Governments drive exploration
  • Hegemony (power and survival) result of exploration


  • Government involvement and leadership necessary (only powerful nations survive)
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Conclusions Military
  • Survival the reason for warfare/military
  • Purpose protection of private property
  • Governments drive military
  • Hegemony (power and survival) result of military


  • Government involvement and leadership necessary (only powerful nations survive)
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The Future
  • What do you want the future to look like?
  • Decisions we make now affect future of the world




  • Survival dependent on Exploration and Military, but military dependent on other technology


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The Future
  • Means in modern world the nation that has the most powerful technology will likely survive
  • The ones that don’t will not


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Choices
  • Hegemony
    • Democratic Republic
    • Capitalism
    • Free Markets
    • Freedom
    • Independence
    • Wealth
    • Health
  • Hegemony
    • Autocratic Dictatorship
    • Socialism/Communism
    • Controlled Markets
    • Security
    • Dependence
    • Poverty
    • Disease or worse
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Choices
  • In terms of technology—the only choice is market
  • Capitalism and free markets are the major diviners of technological increase
  • Also major determinates of individual freedom—freest nations are those with the freest markets
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Markets and Freedom
  • Index of Economic Freedom
  • US has been #6 of freest nations based on markets for years
  • Listed in the “free” category
  • First time this year it has dropped to #8 and into the “mostly free” category


  • China, India, Russia slowly moving up slowly
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10 Measures of Economic Freedom
  • Business Freedom
  • Trade Freedom
  • Monetary Freedom
  • Government Size
  • Fiscal Freedom
  • Property Rights
  • Investment Freedom
  • Financial Freedom
  • Freedom from Corruption
  • Labor Freedom
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Freedom House
  • Political Freedom
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History
  • If History is any example, movement toward less free markets will cripple US technology
  • That affects military
  • Which affects hegemony
  • Which leads to eventual decline
  • The rest of the world will enjoy the fruits of the future—we may not
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Choices
  • Government must attend to the job of government
  • Fascism, Socialism, Communism – hegemonic increase through expansion, usually military or fifth column
  • Democratic Republic (free market capitalism) – hegemonic increase via other avenues—characteristic of the USA
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Economic Systems
  • Fascism
  • Socialism
  • Communism
  • Capitalism (free markets)
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Economic Systems
  • Fascism – government controls business through regulation
  • Socialism – government owns business
  • Communism – government owns everything
  • Capitalism (free markets) – individuals own and control business, private property
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"Population"
  • Population
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"Personal Wealth"
  • Personal Wealth
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History
  • Capitalism is natural result of markets
    • Invention of money 600 BC
    • Invention of trade
    • Natural state of humans
    • Private property
  • All other economic systems are imposed and not natural
    • Fascism, Socialism, Communism
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History of Military
  • Under capitalism
  • Modern military necessary to
    • Protect private property
    • Ensure “rule of law”
    • Protect markets
    • Did I say protect private property
      • Most private of property is self
      • Everything else what you can make or purchase
    • Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

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History of Military
  • Under Fascism, Socialism, Communism
  • Modern military necessary to
    • Protect government
    • Perpetuate government control
    • Expand hegemony
    • No need to protect private property
      • Belongs to government
      • Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness from government

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History
  • The Road to Serfdom - F. A. Hayek
  • Correlates the rise of socialism (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Soviet Russia, British Socialism) with loss of individual and market freedom
  • Hayek tells us (as the entire 20th century does) that socialism means loss of individual and national wealth
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What next?
  • What can we do?
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Choices
  • Hegemony
    • Democratic Republic
    • Capitalism
    • Free Markets
    • Freedom
    • Independence
    • Wealth
    • Health
  • Hegemony
    • Autocratic Dictatorship
    • Socialism/Communism
    • Controlled Markets
    • Security
    • Dependence
    • Poverty
    • Disease or worse
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History
  • Unless you want to go to a dictatorship (survival economy)
    • Military expansion etc.
  • Survival means high technology
  • High technology means markets
  • Freer the markets more technological development
  • You only have one choice
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Deregulate Everything
  • Regulations and restrictions damage markets
  • Already have remedy for harms
    • Criminal
    • Civil
  • Regulations and restrictions actually reduce benefits and cause additional harm
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Regulations and Restrictions
  • Provide business with excuse for harm
    • Current banking and finance issue
    • Salmonella in peanut butter
  • Push payment for harm on government
    • Current banking, car manufacturer etc.
  • Reduce benefit to public
    • Government benefits for harm are always less than business penalties from the courts
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Cost of Regulation
  • 1992 study by congress stated that $7M of taxes and regulations cost one life
    • Cadmium regulation cost 100 lives, to save 24
    • Current cost is unknown
    • Military equals one life at $1M
    • Cost in jobs is about 10 per $1M in regulations and taxes
  • Regulations and taxes actually take lives
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Fascism
  • Economic system where the government controls business through regulations
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Socialism
  • Economic system where the government owns business – there is fundamentally no difference between socialism and fascism
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Solutions
  • True reduction of restrictions on markets
    • No tariffs
    • Low or no business taxes
      • Hidden taxes that are levied on commerce
    • No taxes on commerce
  • Government spending on exploration and military
  • Reductions in government spending on areas that perturbate the marketplace
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Bottom Line
  • Markets drive all technology
  • Restrictions on markets slow technological growth
  • Government involvement slows growth
  • Government necessary to protect private property
  • Government only source with $s and incentive for military/exploration technology
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Conclusions
  • Future is bleak with restricted technology
  • Should hope others are as restricted
  • Restricted technology means eventual loss of hegemony
  • Loss of hegemony portends end of survival
  • Not with a bang, but a whimper…
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Technological Predictions
  • 1.  Current technology review
  • 2.  Directions
  • 3.  10 years
  • 4.  100 years
  • 5.  1000 years
  • 6.  10,000 years
  • 7.  Summary
  • 8.  Conclusion
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Where will we be?
  • 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 years
  • Who knows?
  • We can say is that markets will continue to drive technology until something new comes along—if it comes along
  • The nation that has the freest markets will have the potential to be the most powerful with the greatest hegemony
  • They will survive
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Next Time
  • Ephesians:  Unveiling the Musterion